Rex: Retired military bomb detection dog, owned by Jamie Dana of Colorado Springs
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While serious attacks by dogs are very rare, the intense media coverage that may accompany such an incident can mislead the public and/or lawmakers into imagining that dogs pose a significant threat to the community. Sensationalized publicity, combined with a lack of understanding of the infrequency of dog attacks, and of their causes, has resulted in reactive and uniformed policies directed against certain types of dogs. In no other American city has this dynamic played itself out more tragically than in Denver.
At tremendous cost — financial to the city and emotional to dog owners — Denver continues to fight to maintain a breed ban enacted in 1989 based on fear, ignorance and critically flawed data.
In rippling waves of panic, other cities surrounding Denver and in other parts of Colorado have either considered or enacted breed bans. Aurora has banned 12 different breeds of dogs, along with any dog whose appearance is thought to resemble that of these breeds.
There is no evidence that Denver’s breed ban has reduced severe dog bites in the city/county. The only county in Colorado with a breed ban, Denver has the highest rate of dog-related hospitalizations in the state!
Denver, Colorado’s capital city, has set a tragic example by failing to use good judgment and due regard for the evidence. Rather, Denver continues to perpetrate a climate of hysteria, in an attempt to defend against challenges to its inhumane and ineffective law.
Has Denver’s strict breed ban reduced the frequency or severity of dog attacks in the city?
Today, dogs contribute more to the welfare of individuals and society than perhaps any other time in the history of the human-dog bond. Increased awareness of the importance of humane care and control of dogs, the enactment and enforcement of leash laws, and dog bite prevention education, have all been instrumental in significantly lowering the number of reported dog-related injuries in Colorado and throughout the nation.
It is long past time for the people of Denver and Colorado to recognize the value of all dogs, rather than condemning dogs to death simply based on their appearance in the profoundly mistaken notion that this will somehow prevent dog bites or dog attacks.
Sid: Honorable Mention as an Exemplary Companion by the AKC’s 2006 Awards for Canine Excellence, owned by Lauren Fox – Canon City, Colorado
National Canine Research Council